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The purpose of this thread is to allow free discussion of theories and speculation of the Mawaru Penguin Drum anime series, but be warned since it may contain unmarked spoilers. Having a central location may help focus the discussion instead of spreading speculation over the various episode discussion threads.

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Dumb idea. We've already passed the point where "spoilers" from the novel are actually spoilers, the second novel is going to be behind the point of the story the anime will be at when it is released and we already know the third one will be diverging wildly from the anime. Discussion of the novels should be restricted to the already existing thread for the novels.

So, anyone up to analyze the OP? supposedly, it gives hints to the end of the story. What comes to my head when I search for that in the opening are this passage of the lyrics:
"the clamorous city making noise
I tried to keep an ear out for all this
In a world that's about to end", mixed with the twins falling on the screen and literally disintegrating (pay attention to when they are almost at
the bottom of the screen). So we could guess that something REALLY bad will happen/happened to them (don't know if death), and it probably will be exposed to the general public and maybe cause a massive shitstorm.

Just after that, Ringo's hand is seen dropping the diary to follow the twins (in the series, the twins are following the diary, maybe this implies a
reversal of circumstances?); after that, Himari takes the spotlight, and then , when the "world is about to end" phrase is finishing,
someone (I'm guessing it's also Ringo) drops the infamous apple that symbolizes a shitton of things (the universe, fate, a reward for the ones
who chose love, human's knowledge, the original sin, temptation, whatever floats your boat).

We also see the Pingroup logo transforming into the KIGA logo while below the twins, and also the KIGA logo transforming into Penguin
Force logo right before the Princess of the Crystal appears. What is this suggesting? the three factions are the same shit with different
disguises?, or at least, they're fundamentally connected in some way, the three of them, and that is probably related directly to the Takakura
family.

After that, we see the "Ringo burn" scene that implies the death/despair(whatever, I'm not sure in this) of Ringo, while the lyrics say "I'm past
the point of no return, far over my limit". Pretty easy to relate that to Ringo's situation over her family and her delusions.
Masako's passage has the pattern in the background blacked out, except for the "loop" symbol that shines red. So this idea of "loop" seems to
be the most important to her, among with the memory-loss spheres that also appear prominently. "Even your absolute control has crumbled"...
she is always saying things about crushing someone/something, but I can't really relate this to anything until now. Probably foreshadowing
that things will go bad for her and her "mysterious girl that is dominating the events" image will crumble down.

I'm totally lost at Tabuki's+Yuri's+Sanetoshi's passage, ""The End of the World is just a hypothesis" is what I'm crying out from the other
side of the binary world line".
The quote marks (if they're intended in the japanese karaoke-less OP) imply that someone textually said that/is going to say that, probably
Tabuki or Yuri. And just when Sanetoshi appears, we get the concept of "binary world line" along with the enormous loop image that is
dividing into two "half loops", or in other words, if we consider the loop symbol as the world line (as in, "the world is cyclic"), this cycle would
be split into two equal parts, we get a binary world line.

The part that interests me the most in this opening is the last scene, just after the supposed sarin containers. The twins are trying to hold hands,
stay together, but they're separated by an unknown force (KIGA logo is in the background). Just after that, one of them (or maybe a totally
different guy) falls on the middle of the screen with his face blacked out , So I'm guessing the question of his identity is going to be an
important thing in the series, as he seems directly related, and also a triggering point for the 95 event. This could mean a lot of things, from
the boy representing a mix of the two twins that are key to the Saring Gas Attacks to the twins literally converting/being origined by one
simple entity, thus enhancing the hypotesis that they're not complete.

Now this is what gets me. Just after the 95 appears, all the KIGA logos surrounding it become Penguin Force logos, suggesting one of two
things:
1- KIGA was responsible for the attack and then later, they transformed into Penguin Force, that had different ideals that sprouted from that
attack's consequences.
2- Penguin Force is responsible for the attack, and is also trying to take over KIGA.

The final shots are the three penguins, an apple being picked up and the twins "looking after" Himari in her sleep.
I don't know, I said everything that I could think of the OP in this wall of text, someone mind helping to solve my confussion?

The twins are trying to hold hands,
stay together, but they're separated by an unknown force

I have seen different people speculate that the brothers don't really care about each other. And while I personally don't agree with this, I would not be surprised that later down the line they will be opposed to each other.

Their personalities are very different. Kanba is definitely the dominating one. But if Shouma starts to speak up for himself then I can see the brothers being at odds in the future (although I hope they won't stay that way at the end of the show).

It hasn't even happened and I am nervous.

I don't understand the Pingroup/Kiga/Penguin Force thing at all. But I wouldn't be surprised if opposing factions; were actually one in the same.

Quote:

Even your absolute control has crumbled

I am guessing our cool and calm Masako won't stay that way throughout the show.

I'd like to think that Ringo's "burning out" bit in the OP actually representing her resolve to go through with Project M being completely destroyed by a "sudden" event (her developing feelings for Shoma) after being at full throttle and seemingly at the point of no return (which it pretty much was, she was going to rape Tabuki).

As for the scene at the end of the opening where the brothers hands part and this shadow boy with features from both Kanba and Shoma falls, I think that represents the brothers' "sin" being revealed and its connection to 16 years ago.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shergal

Actually, it was just confirmed that there will be a new OP from ep 12 or 13 onwards; it's the other song of the to-be released single "Nornir" which is the 1st OP's song.

We also see the Pingroup logo transforming into the KIGA logo while below the twins, and also the KIGA logo transforming into Penguin
Force logo right before the Princess of the Crystal appears. What is this suggesting? the three factions are the same shit with different
disguises?,

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shergal

And just when Sanetoshi appears, we get the concept of "binary world line" along with the enormous loop image that is
dividing into two "half loops", or in other words, if we consider the loop symbol as the world line (as in, "the world is cyclic"), this cycle would
be split into two equal parts, we get a binary world line.

I agree with KIGA=Pingroup=Penguin Force. But the series shows a linear pattern, not circular. A circular pattern does not need two arrows, with one arrow afford to join the beginning and the end
Linear scheme is like a double train track where you can move on one side (first arrow) and back on the other (second arrow)

eg: she live an event, she forget it, she recover her lost memory
the first way she uses it to advance his life experience (first arrow) the other way is the memory that can be used to reverse (second arrow)

maybe this is also related to "binary world"

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shergal

The part that interests me the most in this opening is the last scene, just after the supposed sarin containers. The twins are trying to hold hands,
stay together, but they're separated by an unknown force (KIGA logo is in the background). Just after that, one of them (or maybe a totally
different guy) falls on the middle of the screen with his face blacked out , So I'm guessing the question of his identity is going to be an
important thing in the series,

“a totally different guy” maybe Tabuki, who at age 16, wearing the same uniform. His face blacked out can mean his passage to the Dark side. Second interpretation: his face is blacked out in the same way as Kanba’s face when the Princess initiate the survival strategy (chapter 1)
the concept of "binary world" seems to apply more to him, half alive and half dead as Schrödinger's cat, or perhaps free or caged bird

Mario holds the position corresponding to "present" because he doesn't need the "imaginary space" to manifest himself, and because Himari saw him at the aquarium (Chapter 10) before she get her own hat. Moreover, the princess claims “i have come the destination of your fate” and “listen, you lowlifes who will never amount to anything”, which implies knowing the future.

I have seen different people speculate that the brothers don't really care about each other. And while I personally don't agree with this, I would not be surprised that later down the line they will be opposed to each other.

Their personalities are very different. Kanba is definitely the dominating one. But if Shouma starts to speak up for himself then I can see the brothers being at odds in the future (although I hope they won't stay that way at the end of the show).

It hasn't even happened and I am nervous.

After watching ep.12 over and over like crazy... I have come to the same speculation as yours. Man, I'm slow...

I really, definitely, don't want that to happen but seeing Kanba at this stage it's starting to get scary and more real. Now I'm convinced that he is willing to commit any sin and taboo just for the sake of saving Himari, including hurting others in some ways that are not as mild as what he ever did to Ringo. I start comparing him to his father who must have a good reason for carrying out the attack. Then he will be the Mary who needs to be punished by the Goddess.

And in the end, it will be Shoma who stands against him, trying to stop him....

Exploring the hypothesis of the "clones"
the speech of "Destiny" refers to a series of three

• There are those born wealthy
• Those born of beautiful Mothers
• And those born into war or poverty

Additionally: three Kenzans in the picture of Antarctic exploration

Triple Kenzan clones, each of them has a child genetically identical before and after a daughter genetically identical too: triple boys, and triple H. The order of Kenzans is not necessarily the one shown in the figure

Spoiler for figure:

If Himari is "born wealthy" explains why she is a princess while her older brothers are nobody
Put them to live together as a family would be a kind of "genetic experiment"

seems that the scheme is structurally functional and does not contradict anything we know

Nishii: I’m planned to be the animation director for episodes 13, 18 and the finale, and then I’ll be drawing illustrations for magazines. I’m doing some of the key animation for episode 18 and it reminded me that Penguindrum has some actiony parts, and I’m also the animation director for the final episode so I feel like I have to do all the hard parts. Yamauchi Shigeyasu is directing episode 18, so I think it’ll be a pretty unique episode. Please look forward to it.

Yamazaki: I’m in charge of episode 14, but I think Ms. Yuri’s doing some sexy things. I like to think of myself as the “sexy” director on the staff.

Shibata: I’m directing episode 15 and Yuri’s serious past will become clear. Director Ikuhara told me that episode 15 is an important key to the story. Since it’ll clarify some of the mysteries about Penguindrum/the Penguin Drum, please look forward to it.

Kimura Subaru: Actually, around episodes 16~18 the way the story unfolds will change dramatically.

• Aside from Ikuhara writing the script, everything else about episodes 16 and 17 is TBA

• Shoma will try to part with Ringo after this

• Masako's going to be doing things the audience couldn't even imagine from here on, perhaps there's some incident that will/has shaken Kanba even more?

• Ringo manages to solidify her resolve to break free from the curse of the diary and live out her own fate {yay? assuming her own fate doesn't suck}

• Tabuki and Yuri still have roles to fulfill

• Having given her the medicine, Sanetoshi now holds the key to Himari's survival, and the balance between the three Takakura siblings begins to crumble

• "If [the show] is a roller coaster, the first half is just the ascent, it gives you time to enjoy the scenery. But, the in the second half... you fall at immense speed (lol). It's scary and heartrending."

I was just thinking about this, but since they seem to hint that PoC=Momoka, and little Mario is her fated one, could that be a shout out to Super Mario? It would be Hats = Princess (Peach) and (Super) Mario?

I was just thinking about this, but since they seem to hint that PoC=Momoka, and little Mario is her fated one, could that be a shout out to Super Mario? It would be Hats = Princess (Peach) and (Super) Mario?